P.B.S., B. Eng. (UMIST, UK), Ph.D. (UTM), PEng – Practicing Eng (Reg No. C114696), MIEM (Membership No: 70301), CEng (Reg No. 581292), Professional Technologist (PT20080019), MIChemE (Membership no: 99881107), ACS Member (Membership no: 30180270), MIWA (UK) (Membership no: 00943115), BEM (Membership no: 50089A), Registered Electrical Energy Manager, Certified Energy Manager Trainer
Prof Ir Ts Dr Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi, CEng, MIChemE, MIEM, is a Professor in the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She specialises in process systems engineering with emphasis on resource conservation. She previously helmed as the Director of Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT) from Feb 2011 to 2021. Sharifah has been extensively involved in 80 research projects (worth RM7.54Million), 17 industrial based projects for various companies and government agencies and has trained engineers from more than 200 companies in the field of sustainable engineering design and management. She has more than 250 publications with a H-index of 33 (Scopus). The 2014 Elsevier’s Scival Spotlight has ranked her in the ninth place among the list of global experts under the competency of “heat exchangers, retrofitting and design” and in the fifth place under the competency of “optimisation, cost and water”.
Dr Sharifah is currently the Associate Editor for Journal of Cleaner Production (Q1), Editorial Board member for Applied Thermal Engineering Journal (Q1) and International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability, and International Member of European Committee for the Use of Computers in Chemical Engineering Education (EURECHA). She has been serving as the Guest Editor for Journal of Cleaner Production, Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering (Q4) and PERINTIS e-Journal. She is a frequent reviewer for 16 international journals and has been appointed as international scientific and technical committee for several international conferences.
Dr Sharifah has filed 12 patents (1 patent granted, 1 utility innovation granted), 28 copyrights and developed 7 software products. Her team have established a UTM Spin-off company called Optimal Systems Engineering Sdn Bhd (OPTIMISE), where she serves as one of the Board of Directors to commercialise not only their products but also ideas and know-how.
Sharifah received her PhD at the age of 26 from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), making her one of the two youngest PhD holders in Malaysia at that time. She was awarded the Maal Hijrah 2008 (New Year of 2008) Award – Glorious Achievement by the Sarawak state government and the Excellent Service Award by UTM. Her PhD work on water minimisation has won the 2008 Prince Sultan Abdul Aziz International Water Award, Urban Water Demand Management Category. She has won numerous international and national awards since then such as Green Talents 2009 award from the Federal Ministry of Research Germany, Top 5 shortlisted candidates for Global IChemE Young Engineer Award 2009, IChemE Highly Commended Sir Frederick Warner Prize 2011, ASEAN Young Scientist and Technologist Award (AYSTA 2014), PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Research Grant in Green Chemistry 2014, National Young Scientist Award 2015, Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak 2015 – Officer Rank (P.B.S.), Honorable Mention and Runner-up for ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women 2016 in Energy Sustainability, Malaysia Research Star Award 2016, 2018 and 2019, Top Research Scientists Malaysia 2018, Sarawak State Special Recognition – International Women Award 2021. She was listed as Asian Scientist 100 in 2017 and Asia’s Rising Scientists in 2020, and 8 Women Scientists from Asia You Should Know in 2021 by AsianScientist.com. Due to her various contributions globally and locally, she was promoted as Professor in 2016 at the age of 34 years old by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
She is currently the Chair for the Science Leadership Working Group under Young Scientist Network, Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM). She has also served as the Chair for Malaysia IChemE Young Engineer Group (YEG). She is a member of Persatuan Saintis Muslim Malaysia (PERINTIS). She is a certified ASEAN Energy Management Scheme (AEMAS) Energy Manager trainer and a Registered Electrical Energy Manager under Malaysia Energy Commission. She chaired the 1st Global Process Systems and Safety Conference (PSSE2016) and co-chaired the 18th International Conference Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES 2015), a cleaner energy mainstream international conference which has been organised in Europe and North America since 1998.
Research Fellow
Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT) – Sustainability Research Alliance
Research Institute for Sustainable Environment (RISE)
School of Chemical and Energy Engineering
Research Institute of Sustainable Environment (RISE)
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Room: 202-11, Block N01a
Tel: (6)07 55 36025
Fax: (6)07 55 88166
Email: syarifah@utm.my
Dynamic CV Infographics: UTM Scholars
